Electrical resistance heaters suitable for heating long intervals of subterranean earth formations have been under development for many years. These heaters have been found to be useful for carbonizing hydrocarboncontaining zones for use as electrodes within reservoir formations, for enhanced oil recovery and for recovery of hydrocarbons from oil shales. U.S. Pat. No. 2,732,195 discloses a process to create electrodes utilizing a subterranean heater. The heater utilized is capable of heating an interval of 20 to 30 meters within subterranean oil shales to temperatures of 500.degree. C. to 1000.degree. C. Iron or chromium alloy resistors are utilized as the core heating element. These heating elements have a high resistance and relatively large voltage is required for the heater to extend over a long interval with a reasonable heat flux. It would be preferable to utilize lower resistance material. Further, it would be preferable to use a material which is malleable to permit more economical fabrication of the heater.
Subterranean heaters having copper core heating elements are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,570,715. This core has a low resistance, which permits heating long intervals of subterranean earth with a reasonable voltage across the elements. Further, because copper is a malleable material, this heater is much more economical to fabricate. These heaters can heat 1000-foot intervals of earth formations to temperatures of 600.degree. C. to 1000.degree. C. with 100 to 200 watts per foot of heating capacity with a 1200 volt power source. But copper also has shortcomings as a material for a heating element. As the temperature of a copper heating element increases, the electrical resistance increases at a rate which is undesirably high. If a segment of the heating coil becomes excessively hot, the increase in electrical resistance of the hot segment causes a cascading effect which can result in failure of the element.
A subterranean heater utilizing an electric resistant heater element having a lower temperature coefficient of resistance would not only improve temperature stability, but would simplify the power supply circuitry.
It is therefore the object of the present invention to provide an improved heater capable of heating long intervals of subterranean earth wherein the heating element has a low temperature coefficient of resistance, a low electrical resistance, and utilizes a core of a malleable metal material.